Past Friend, Present Ghost
by Lady Akuma Wolf
Summary: They say revenge is sweet. After losing one of their own to torture and death, the remaining members of Section 9 set out to prove this saying true. But a year later, they get not one but two surprises as they attack the people who took away their friend.
1. A Heavy Loss

7/5/07 update: I would like to apologize to anyone and everyone who went to read this story and found it a copy of my LOTR one-shot. I have no idea how this happened. Thank you to **Light of the Shadows** and the other reader for bringing this HUGE mistake to my attention. My apologies to the reader I didn't name; I didn't write your name down and the message from you is gone. But thank you to both of you!

A/N – This is an AU story. The first chapter takes place a little over a year before the rest of the story. I do not own anything other than the plot and the evil people.

Rating: T - Rated for language, some graphic torture and possible suicide (in later chapters). Rating might go up for later chapters.

Normal speech

**Cyber speech**

* * *

Chapter One - Loss

The remaining members of Section Nine either stood or sat within the lounge of their headquarters, all bearing grim, angry or saddened faces, or a combination of the three, depending on the person. Saito had a bandage around one upper arm.

Just over five hours ago they had raided on what they had thought was the Shadow Ghosts headquarters. The Shadow Ghosts were a gang into much the same business as the Yakuza. They were almost as big and were – if possible – even more ruthless in how they went about their business, but much more subtle in doing so.

No one was speaking, and surprisingly Pazu, Boma and Ishikawa were not smoking. Aramaki was not present as he was out of the country, and there was currently no way to contact him to relay their news.

Suddenly Batou smashed his fist angrily against the wall he was leaning on, cracking it. "How the hell could we have been so stupid as to let this happen?" he demanded furiously, shattering the oppressive silence. "_How_?"

No one answered him for a long moment. Then the Major stood up from her chair. Slowly she walked to the lone window in the room. It was raining out. She closed her eyes. "It's my fault," she whispered. She turned around to look at the others. "It's all my fault."

FLASHBACK

**"Ishikawa, how many people are you detecting inside the building?"** the Major asked as Batou and Pazu leaned against the wall opposite her, guns out and ready. It was nothing more than a large storage building – at least that was what it looked like from the outside – situated pretty much in the middle of nowhere. There was a door on either side, more rusted than the rest of the building, and a few windows scattered throughout the length of the walls, some of the panes cracked or broken. A river ran behind their position a couple hundred feet away, at the back was a cliff and the rest of the building was surrounded by forest. The only good thing any of them could find about the building was that it was only one story – above ground, anyway. But that still cut down on how much area they and the two Tachikoma had to search, depending of course on how deeply underground this place went.

**"At least thirty, Major."** Ishikawa reported after a moment. **"But it could be more."**

**"'Could be more'?" **Togusa repeated.** "And this information is helpful to us how?"**

**Don't blame him, Mr. Togusa**! One of the Tachikoma chirped. **The building is surrounded by a distortion field created by multiple computers that can block almost all technology, even Mr. Ishikawa's thermal readers**.

Batou smiled as Togusa apologized to Ishikawa, who brushed it off.

**"All right, men – and Tachikoma," **the Major added hastily.** "Be careful when we get in there. Because of the extremely high-tech distortion field we have no positive way to know just how many people – human or cyborg – might be in there. And that's not counting anything else they might have in there, or what other nasty surprises their computers can do that we don't know about."**

**"Don't worry about a thing, Major."**

**"We'll shut the Shadow Ghosts down and lock them all up for good."**

**"And we'll make sure they can't hurt any more people."**

The Major smiled at the chorus of agreements the men gave, not knowing that soon she would be wishing she had worried about things, and that indeed the Shadow Ghosts were going to hurt more people after that night. Just one, but that was one too many.

They had no idea just who these Shadow Ghosts were, or what they looked like. No one at Section Nine would have ever thought that the answer to the second question was much closer than any of them could have ever dreamed of.

The Major gave the order to enter the building.

Then everything went to hell.

END FLASHBACK

"Don't blame yourself, Major." Pazu said heavily. "None of us did anything."

"None of us _could_ do anything." Ishikawa reminded the group.

"Like hell," Batou spat. "There is always something that could have been done."

A lone Tachikoma sat in the corner of the room, unnoticed until it spoke.

"Mr. Batou is correct. There is always something that could have been done."

Saito nodded in agreement with the Tachikoma, but refused to speak. He was still furious with the Major and Batou for refusing to listen to his cry for help.

FLASHBACK

"Damn it, just how many of these things are there?" Batou growled as he, the Major and Pazu fired repeatedly around the corners of the walls they had taken refuge behind. Droid-like creatures had attacked their group soon after they had reached the inner part of the ground level of the building. At least five feet tall, they had excellent marksmanship and were wickedly fast, making it was extremely hard to shoot one. The Tachikoma who had entered with them had taken a different route, hoping to divert some of the droids, which it had, but that still left the others.

The Major had lost contact with both Saito's group and Ishikawa as soon as they had all entered the building, confirming her theory that there was more than just a heat-thermal distortion field around the building, but also a cyberlink disruption field, one good enough to halt even Section Nine's state-of-the-art cyberlinks.

"Little bastards just won't die!" Batou spat, firing his gun again as the others backed up another hallway towards the door they had entered through, hoping no more surprises awaited them.

**"Major, Mr. Batou! Something has happ-" **one of the Tachikoma began excitedly, but the Major cut it off, not bothering – or not thinking – to ask how it had managed to contact them through the disruption field. **"Unless we're about to be attacked from another direction whatever you have to say can wait!"**

**"You're not going to be attacked Major, but-"**

**"Then silence, and that's an order!"**

**"But-"**

**"She said silence, Tachikoma!" **Batou snapped. **Do it!**

Silence.

Deciding to make a dash for safety, Pazu, Batou and the Major ran out of the same door they had entered through earlier. A muffled explosion followed their footsteps out just as a message came over the group cyberlink.

**"Major, get out of there!" **Ishikawa called, able to communicate with them now that they were clear of the building. "**The building's about to explode!"**

**Oh, really? **Batou asked sarcastically. **That must've been the explosion we just heard.**

Another muffled boom shook the ground violently before the building exploded outwards, throwing glass, metal and rust away from the foundation and underground levels.

Then everything went silent.

The two Tachikoma were next to Ishikawa's truck as the Major, Batou and Pazu arrived. Saito was leaning against the van, holding a bloody cloth to what looked suspiciously like a bullet wound on his arm. The others were standing with the Tachikoma.

"Saito, what happened to you?" the Major asked, concerned.

To the surprise of the new arrivals, Saito glared at her. "Nothing you'll care about, Major." He growled.

The Major frowned at him, but Batou spoke to her via their cyber connection. **"Look at the Tachikoma, Major. Something is bothering them. Especially the one who was with Saito and Togusa."**

**"Well, I did yell at it,"** she pointed out. "**Maybe-"**

**"No. That would not put it out this much."**

Batou approached the one he favored; the one who had tried to contact them during the firefight. A closer examination of the Tachikoma showed it had destroyed some of its circuits, though it was still – for the most part – functional. That explained how it had contacted them from within the building. It had blown so of its own circuits in an attempt to give them a message. The one they had not bothered to listen to.

Batou crouched down in front of the Tachikoma. "What's wrong?"

The Tachikoma placed its clawed arms in front of itself, lowering itself as it spoke with uncharacteristic softness: "You didn't want to listen to me, Mr. Batou, Major."

Batou frowned. If he wasn't mistaken, the Tachikoma sounded sad. "We're sorry Tachikoma, but surely-"

"'But surely' _nothing_, Batou," Saito spat. "I don't care how many enemies you were fighting, you still should have taken the time to listen to our message."

"What is up with you guys?" Batou demanded, exasperated.

The Tachikoma sniffed, as if it were crying. "They got Mr. Togusa."

END FLASHBACK

"He might still be alive," Ishikawa suggested half-heartedly. "From the looks of things they took Togusa belowground before the explosion. Maybe they have – had a transportation system down there as well, in case they got raided by the police. Or us."

"Well, well, well, dear members of Section Nine. I must say your attack against one of my bases was not what I had expected from people like you."

The computer screen on the desk across the room flickered on. The upper half of a man whose shoulders underneath a dark gray jacket were broad enough to convince anyone he was a cyborg appeared on the screen. His face was distorted into a blur of color and his voice altered to sound slightly lower pitch than normal.

The man gave an overdramatic sigh before continuing, "No, not what I had expected at all. It was very disappointing, in fact." He shook his head. "And allowing a full human to be part of Section Nine. How could you all stand it, his incompetence, his weakness? We of the Shadower Ghosts would never have allowed such a thing. But you are not like us, and because of this you always had to look after him. And even then you utterly failed him." The man's voice took on the sound of a smirk. "Oh, and Ishikawa, don't bother trying to pin down my location, or clear up the video feed. Anything you try will shut the connection down completely and you'll never get to find out what happened to the human."

Ishikawa, halfway to the computer, stopped dead.

"You keep your mouth and your hands off of Togusa!" Batou snarled, despite the face that the connection was one-way.

The figure on the screen laughed mockingly at them. "Ah, I expect someone is yelling at me – Batou, perhaps? You did always have a strong friendship with Togusa, didn't you? And yet you let him down when he needed you the most." The figure paused, bringing up a large hand to his chin as if he was pondering a thought. "Or maybe that display of utter devotional friendship was just a show while you were obeying orders to watch out for him, hm?"

Batou swore at him. "You fucking bastard! What the hell have you done with him?"

"Worried you've failed your orders, are we?" the man asked, false sympathy dripping from his voice. "Well, let me put your hearts at ease, my friends and fellow cyborgs. You don't need to worry about the human any longer."

The screen flickered for a moment before settling into a clear, sharp image; a photo.

The Major gasped, not bothering to hide her horror; Batou clenched his teeth as his hands turned into fists at his sides. Saito, hardened sharpshooter and assassin ran from the room. A moment later he could be heard retching as his stomach rejected his earlier meal. Pazu, a stricken look on his face, looked like he wanted to do the same. Ishikawa and Boma both looked horrified.

The screen showed a wall splattered with blood. On the blood-washed floor in front of the wall were the decapitated and bloody bodies of Togusa's wife and child on either side of another - whole but still bloody - body.

It was Togusa. His face was hidden underneath an arm thrown protectively up over his face. It was covered in small cuts and what looked like cigarette burns. What was visible of Togusa's bare chest and back was covered with their own share of torture marks much like the ones on his arms, but much worse. His legs were probably the same under his torn and charred pants.

The Major closed her eyes briefly, not wanting to accept what she was seeing as

real. But no matter how much she wanted to deny it, she knew Togusa was dead. Opening her eyes she studied the image again for any clues. Next to her, Batou was doing the same. There was no way she – or any of them – were going to let these … these _monsters, _these bastards get away with doing this. Heaven and Hell would sign an honest, legitimate peace treaty before they would do nothing about this.

A closer look the blood on the wall showed it was written in letters - a sentence proclaiming the reason why Togusa and his family lay dead below the message.

**_"This is what happens when you mess with the Shadow Ghosts." _**

"Dear gods above, what have we done?"

* * *

A/N – Well? Like it? Or not? For those of you who do like it, don't worry; this is NOT a one-shot. Section Nine still needs to get their revenge on those Shadow Ghosts, right? And yes, I know, the Major – and probably Saito to some extent – are both rather OOC, but I did the best I could. I also know my terminology on the thermal radar, cyber link disruption field, etc. that Section Nine uses in the Anime is nothing like what it is supposed to be, but like I have said before, I do not own the series so have nothing to reference with. Any corrections would be gratefully accepted for the upcoming chapters.

Updates on this story will take a while. Sorry.

Review, please!!


	2. Findings

A/N – Yes, I'm back. Finally. Sorry it took me this long and the chapter is so short. I will try and do better with both these problems.

Normal-speech

**Cyber-speech**

* * *

"Honestly, just how ironic is it that what is left of those damned Shadow Ghosts have taken refuge is in an abandoned industrial unit merely a mile from were Togusa was killed?" The Major asked softly as Ishikawa drove them to the hidden away place.

No one answered her. Even over a year later, each and every one of them hated themselves for abandoning Togusa. They had carried the memory of him throughout the past year, and it drove them all to become their own Stand Alone Complex, individuals who walked their own shadowed paths in a chaotic world, their only goal being to destroy the ones who took away someone they cared about. Togusa had been a co-worker, fellow soldier and comrade. But most importantly, Togusa had been a good friend.

The image of his slaughtered body haunted everyone's dreams, making many of them fear falling asleep. Or at least those who could. For the others, they were haunted in times their minds were without anything to occupy them.

And now the day had finally come to end it all.

Fury and sadness had made all of them dead serious, even the Tachikoma. The pride they had taken in being a strong group had been all but shattered at the loss of Togusa. The one most affected was Saito, who had been paired with the human during the ill-fated raid. He had become almost mute, refusing to speak except when he had to. The rest of them were nearly as bad.

FLASHBACK

The building was abandoned, empty. Once again the Shadow Ghosts had managed to escape them. Taped to the door of the building was a photo, the same image the leader of the Shadower Ghosts had shown them of Togusa. He had been targeted because he was fully human, and thus hated by the Shadow Ghosts, a yakuza-like group of cyborgs.

Another time they found another photo; it had been an image of Togusa's other child, a little boy, also dead just like his parents and sister. In his fury, Batou had punched a hole in the wall next to the photo.

The wall had been solid steel, and six inches thick.

END FLASHBACK

Ishikawa parked the large vehicle before the last bend in the narrow road leading to the supposedly abandoned industrial unit. The three Tachikoma who had been chosen remained unusually silent as they moved outside. Even though they were machines, they were developing minds of their own and understood the gravity of the situation. Especially when one of them was the one who had been the one with Saito and Togusa on that ill-fated raid.

The Major held up her hand to stop the men as they started to disembark.

"I know all of you want to bring justice to these people for Togusa and his family," she said, speaking softly but firmly. "But do not kill them, no matter how much you might want to, unless you have no other choice." Her gaze rested on the two people she was mainly addressing; Batou and Saito.

The men – every one of them – scowled, but nodded in acknowledgement of the order.

Silently, Section Nine entered the building.

Immediately it became obvious that the building was not abandoned and empty; far from it. Security cameras winked at them from all directions, and sensors criss-crossed across the halls. Every one of them slid silently over Section Nine's new raiding suits.

Halting at a four-way intersection, the Major pointed, motioning Batou to the left, and Pazu to the right while she went straight.

As they started down their appointed halls, the Major said, "**Be careful, all of you. I don't want to lose anyone else. If something happens to you or your group, let us all know right away. But otherwise try and keep cyber-transmitions to a minimum. We don't know who advanced their equipment is. Last time it was better than ours. Hopefully this time it isn't. Do you all understand?"**

"**Yes, Major." **Replied the rest of Section Nine, though both Saito and Batou did so hesitantly.

OoOoOoO

Batou peered around the corner, looking down the next hallway. It was empty, and lined with doors – cell doors, from the looks of them. They were all open except for four in the middle. Cautiously approaching them, Batou quickly examined the locks. They were all digital, and complicated. But only one, the furthest from where he was standing, was activated. Taking that as a bad sign, Batou pushed the first door open. Immediately the sickening smell of rotting flesh assaulted his nose. Resisting the urge to cough Batou halted his breathing, glad for the first time in a long while that he was a cyborg and actually able to do that. Shining his flashlight about the small cell he found in the far corner a body, probably male, lying broken and headless on the ground. Skin grafts were rotting away to show metal underneath. The prisoner had been a cyborg.

It was the same in the other two cells as he neared the only one that seemed to be locked, albeit the bodies were not as decomposed as the first. Batou scowled down at the last body. Why were the Shadow Ghosts killing their own kind? Had these three – or maybe four, who knew what was in the last cell – failed to follow orders, or had they disagreed with the group's views on humans? Or was it something else entirely?

Approaching the last closed cell, Batou could see that the numeral keypad was asking for a thirteen digit code. The whole thing was solid metal. That was too bad. The makers of the cells had never counted on a furious, vengeance-filled Batou coming into contact with one of their doors. Stepping back, Batou kicked it. The door flew open, banging loudly against the cement wall of the small cell. Stepping into the doorway, Batou peered around. At least this time the smells that assaulted the large cyborgs' nose were not of rotting flesh and death, but of stale sweat, urine and blood. The faint rasping sound of cloth on cement in the far corner made Batou turn around, flickering into the visible spectrum.

"Who's there?" he called, trying to make his voice soft as he slowly brought his flashlight up. Receiving no answer, he flicked it on and pointed its beam toward the sound.

An overly-thin figure huddled in the corner furthest away from the door. It had short, unevenly cut dark hair, matted with blood against his skull over his right temple, among other places. This made the figure's hair color impossible to tell. A dead-white hand attached to a bare, almost skeletal-thin arm flew up to protect his face. "Stay away from me," he begged, voice hoarse and shaking with fear, exhaustion and hopelessness. He wore only a ragged pair of pants. His chest and feet were bare. Batou could make out every one of the poor figure's bones, along with other things he didn't want to name.

Batou took a step forward. "We're here to get you out."

The body shifted, pressing itself ever further into the corner. The thin arm shifted so what little there was of it now shielded the blood-matted head. "No, you're not," he whispered. "You tried this one me before. I'm not falling for it again. You'll only hurt me again."

Batou frowned. "We're all police, sir. We're from Public Security Section Nine."

The man flinched at the last four words. "Like hell you are," he hissed, daring look over his arm at Batou. "Police don't kill and torture people."

Batou's frown deepened. Maybe the Shadow Ghosts were pretending to be police officers? As he took another step closer to the figure, he could see new, healing and old torture marks, cuts bruises and burns, all over the man's arms and back. His chest and probably his legs were the same. He had known this as soon as he had seen the figure. He just hadn't wanted to name what he saw. Batou clenched his teeth. The Shadow Ghosts were still hurting people.

"**Batou, where the HELL are you?"** The Major demanded suddenly.

"**I'm on the first floor below the main one. I found their cell block. Four of the doors were closed, but only one was locked. Three hold dead bodies, cyborgs who probably angered the Shadow Ghosts. The one that as locked holds a guy who's still alive, but scared to death of anyone, including police. He's also been tortured. Why are you asking?"**

"**At this very moment I am watching you talk to someone I don't recognize, that's why,"** The Major replied, sending him video feed.

Batou scowled. "**What the hell-"**

Batou was interrupted by Saito. "**Major, Batou, take a look at this."**

Saito sent them his own video. It showed the Major, Saito, Pazu and Ishikawa – or very good likenesses – looking at security monitors, all frowning.

"**Holy shit,"** Batou swore. "**It's another Section Nine."**

"**An **_**evil**_** Section Nine." **Pazu corrected blackly.

"**Wait a moment,"** Batou said. "**This explains why this guy is afraid of me. I look like one of his captors."**

"**But why would the Shadow Ghosts want to look like the ones who are hunting them?" **Pazu asked.

"**Maybe they're planning on killing us all and taking our places."** Saito suggested darkly.

"**Stop that," **the Major ordered. "**We don't need talk like that."**

Batou wanted to shake his head. While Saito's idea made some sense, he couldn't help but think that it was something far more complicated than that. If that was even possible.

Slowly, as to not alarm the man, Batou approached the figure and knelt down a few feet away. "Will you please look at me?"

The man's only reply was to flinch away and not look at him.

Clipping the flashlight to his vest, Batou slid his gun noisily across the floor, trying to assure the thin figure that he wasn't holding any weapons.

"**Damn it,"** Saito cursed. "**They're moving out. Something must've alerted them. They're also talking about a prisoner and the cell block-"**

Saito's words were abruptly cut off.

"**Saito!** **What's going on?"** the Major asked sharply.

When Saito didn't answer, the Major demanded again, "**Saito, what's going on?" **This time a trace of worry lancing her words.

"**Saito!"**

After a brief but far too long silence for anyone's liking, Saito said, "**They spotted me." **

"**Pazu and I are on our way." **The Major said. "**Batou, try and get the prisoner to trust you and get him out. Otherwise sedate him. Ishikawa, be ready to get us out of there fast. Tachikoma, head out to cover our retreat. There are too many for us to take at the moment."**

"**Yes, Major."**

The prisoner was shaking his head, his arm pressed against it. "Stop," he begged. "Please, just stop."

"Stop what?" Batou asked, creeping an inch closer.

"You know what," he replied, voice shaking. "After what you did to me after claiming to be my friends, do you really think I would trust you again?"

Batou frowned again. If people looking like them, Section Nine, were friends of this man…who did they all know, and were on a friendly basis with, look like this? Or had it merely been the imposters who had supposedly befriended this man before putting him through who knew what kind of living hell. Or…

No. It could not be that simple. It just couldn't.

Gently Batou touched the man's shoulder. "Look it me," he said sharply, voicing it as an order. If this man had been a captive for a long amount of time, he would probably obey orders. Batou hated having to scare the skeletal man any further, but he had to get a better look at his face.

The man refused for a moment before lowering his arm.

Fear and resignation to a bleak fate stared at Batou from glazed, sunken brown eyes. A thin but jagged scar cut across the man's right temple and almost non-existent cheek. Batou reached out and touched the man's face. Even in this state, the face struck a chord in his memory, but he would be damned if he could remember the person's name. The man closed his eyes and flinched; Batou pulled his hand back. Sighing, Batou reached for the syringe in one of the pockets in his vest. If the man wasn't going to let himself be touched, then he would have to sedate him.

The man flinched away again, though he had himself pressed as far as he could into the corner. "Why do you all keep doing this to me?" he asked softly. "Why don't you just kill me and be done with it?"

Batou was at a loss for words briefly. Finally he said, "Sir, I need you to listen to me. I am not one of your captors. I am here to get you out of here."

The man shook his head before leaning it against the wall. "Don't lie to me, Batou. Not that it matters, I guess. None of you are ever going to stop. Especially not you."

Batou's eyebrows shot up. "How do you know my name?"

The man lowered his arm and glared at Batou with a look of equal hate and fear in his eyes. The look of resignation had been pushed aside for a moment.

Eyes that were not brown, Batou realized with a jolt, but dark amber.

"You know very well how I know your name, Batou," Togusa whispered. "I used to be a member of your murderous Section Nine."

"**Holy shit.** **Major!" **Batou shouted across the open connection.

"**What's wrong, Batou?" **Eight voices – Five human and three Tachikoma –demanded at once, all worried.

"**Guys,** **I don't know how to say this, but… I found Togusa."**

* * *

Annnnnd I think I'll cut it off there. Please don't be mad…

And please please PLEASE review! Reviews will make me try to update update faster!


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter Three

Batou and the Major stood outside of an ICU unit, looking inside through the one-way glass. Togusa's emaciated body lay sedated on the bed within, covered in blankets. An IV in his arm, sending fluid into his system. Another in the opposite hand was giving him blood. An oxygen mask covered his nose and mouth, fogging slightly with each shallow breath he took.

"He was always skinny… but now…" Batou trailed off. "he looks like a skeleton."

The Major nodded. "At least we found him, finally."

Batou clenched his fists. "yeah, but at what cost? He thinks we all took part in the killing of his family, that we tortured him. That _I_ tortured him…"

Footsteps echoed up the hall towards them, silencing any response the Major might have given. Saito, Pazu and a redheaded woman in a long white lab coat and a nametag that read "Dr. Ruka" joined them at the window.

The Doctor held out her hand to the Major. "Dr. Ruka, tell me, how is Togusa doing?"

Dr. Ruka opened a file on the small pad she drew out of her pocket. "Severe damage externally and internally, broken bones, bruised organs. He has a bad case of pneumonia and is very malnourished and dehydrated. He… he was also raped, repeatedly. We have to keep him sedated, not only to keep him comfortable, but also because he is hallucinating. He seems to think that some people called Section Nine are torturing him, and that we are working with them." She glanced sideways at Barou. "That wouldn't happen to be _you_ people, would it?"

Batou's jaw clenched. **Batou! Don't let her rile you up.** The Major ordered. **If you want to stay here, then calm down. If you can't control yourself, then leave and go back.**

Batou glared from the flirty doctor to the Major. Finally he turned around to look back through the window at his friend. **Fine.** Was all he said.

The Major cast one last look at him before returning her attention to the doctor. "We rescued him after he has been missing for over a year. He was held captive by a group of people impersonating the Section Nine he is referring to. As to why, we are uncertain yet."

A beeping noise interrupted anything Dr Ruka may have said. She glanced at it. "I have to go take care of this. If you want, you can go inside and visit him for an hour. I or one of my suppordinates will be back after the hour is over to take you out." She left before any member of Section Nine could say another word.

In silence, they filed into the room. Batou immediately took a seat next to his friend, while the rest stood around the bed, staring down at their sleeping comrade. Machines softly beeped and whirred, keeping their friend alive and comfortable, and monitoring his vitals.

"How do we know he even is the _real_ Togusa?" Saito demanded suddenly. "Maybe this is one of their tricks."

The Major shook her head. "On the way to the hospital, once he was sedated, I brain-dived into his memories. Its him, as far as I can tell. All his memories are there, though the past year is nothing but jumbled half-thoughts and confusion and pain. His body is real, not cyborg, and there is no sign of plastic surgery either. I don't see a way anyone could resemble Togusa without any of that."

Batou reached out to cover Togusa's skeletal hand with his own. Behind his back, The Major and the others stared at him. "Why did they do this to him? What did they have to gain from doing this to his family, and to him?"

Silence greeted his question. After a moment, the Major said quietly, "I think the more important question is why is there a group of people out there who resemble us at Section Nine, and what are they planning to do. We need to find that out as soon as possible!" She switched to cyber-speech. "**Ishikawa, have you found anything in the computers that were in the building where Togusa was found?**"

"**Most of them were erased or destroyed, Major."** Ishikawa replied. "**We're doing our best with what we have-"**

"**Well work harder and faster! We need to know what was going on there, and what they're planning!"** The Major interrupted, rising to her feet. **"The kept Togusa alive this long for a reason, and he is in no condition to tell us why, if he even knows. We need to find out everything NOW. We will head back now. I will take another look at building."**

The men filed out of the room, except Batou. He still stood next to Togusa's bed, gazing down at him, taking in every bruise, scar, burn and cut. He tightened his grip around Togusa's hand briefly before letting it go. "I'll find out why, Togusa. I promise."

OoOoOoO

The Major walked into the building, crouching past the police tape that had been erected periodically. She glanced up the stairs, where she had first gone when they first stormed the building two days ago. She changed direction and headed down to the lower levels, where Togusa had been found.

Batou had said all of the other cells had been either empty or their occupants dead. Thankful she could disable her scent receptors, she kept walking down to the door that was open, a huge, Batou-size foot dent in the door. Dried blood was crusted on the floor, and especially in the far corner, most likely where Batou had found Togusa. There was a tattered, half rotten blanket cast on the floor. There was a round camera mounted on the ceiling, allowing for 360 viewing of the cell. She glared at it. Like he wasn't put through enough, they also watched him constantly?

Growling, she exited the cell and headed back up the stairs.

"**Major! We may have found something."**

OoOoOoO


End file.
